ORMUZ AGAIN 257

get on well with Rasnoradin, and Ceif adin was over twenty—
an advanced age for the royal house of Ormuz. A little dose
of poison settled Ceifadin, and his younger brother Turan
Shah reigned in his stead. Rasnoradin was Persian and
inclined to the Shiah sect. He filled the town with his
numerous sons and nephews, and was considering the idea
of presenting Ormuz to the Shah. Such was the state of
affairs reported by the squadron which Albuquerque had
sent to fetch the tribute money and explore the Persian Gulf.
The ambassador, Nicolau de Ferreira, just arrived in India,
had been similarly informed.

On 25th October we find Albuquerque still hesitating
between Ormuz and the Red Sea. By 27th November he
had made up his mind. If something were not done about
Ormuz at once, the island would be appropriated by the Shah.

Further, the financial problem had to be met. No money
had arrived from Portugal in 1514. In the factories, Al-
buquerque affirms, "I cannot see a single 'real'!" If he
took the troops to the Red Sea that year, how could the
men be paid? On the other hand, Ormuz was simply oozing
with money, so Ormuz would be a useful place to occupy.
" We are not kept so well provided by Your Highness that
it is not sometimes necessary to seek for supplies where
they can be found." Everything considered, Aden would
have to wait for another year, and when the time came
Ormuz would be a convenient base from which to operate.

Conquer Aden—settle Ormuz—and make a Christian of
the Rajah of Cochin—so ran D. Manuel's rather wholesale
instructions as set forth in the dispatches of 1514. The last
item did not seem a very likely proposition but, orders
being orders, Albuquerque sailed via Cannanore for Cochin
to test the Rajah's reactions to missionary endeavour.

" I used all the arguments mentioned in your letter, and
others that occurred to my own feeble intellect/' The Rajah,
as might have been expected, said that this was very sudden
and he must have time to think.

They discussed the matter at great length—quite